Shrouded In Shadows
by KuroDancer
Summary: A girl witnesses the death of her people, and manages to escape. Her new life is hardly welcoming, and she wants to make up for her past cowardice. But she finds new meaning. Can she make this strange boy open up to her? GaaraxOC M for later chapters.
1. Prolouge: I Live

**Prologue: I Live.**

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The screams break the barrier of silence. The peaceful village is in chaos. _**Run**_. I run as fast as a child can. The gut wrenching shrieks of terror make my hair stand up on end. Blood is everywhere,the smell of burning flesh and crimson liquid hits my nose. I'm dizzy, I want to throw up. Turn the corner, and sprint to the door, silent just like Nee-san taught. No, there are people there. Where is my family?

**Footsteps**._**Run, hide, escape.**_ Natural human instincts kick in. This is survival now. My mother, dead on the ground, her blood on my feet. No time for remorse, just run. My brother, sister, father, bodies litter the floor of our home, and our village.

** Voices**. _**Run, hide, escape**_. Where do I go? _**Trees, forest, cover.**_ Head for the woods. Turn the corner, I see the door. I begin to sprint, I ignore the dampness of my feet that I know was the blood of my family. I hear footsteps again, my hearing keen as ever. I get outside, and crouch low to the building. No one sees me. The skills I have are keeping me alive, remarkable for a child my age. But as of right now, it's survival, it's no longer something for my now dead parents to show off proudly. The men are going into the houses, searching for survivors. I listen for my chance, all is silent, and I sprint. Into the woods, past the trees, and into the woods.

_** Listen**_. This is key to survival. Feel the earth, listen, smell.. Taste. I keep running, making the mistake of feeling the loss of my village, I cry. This would be a normal reaction of children, but crying doesn't help in survival. It muddles the senses, and makes it hard to stay calm. The wise words of my brother, the best ninja our clan has ever seen, pop into my head. _"Emotions make us weak, a tiger doesn't feel, it survives."_ I'm at least a mile away now, losing control of myself, I begin to sob. I trip, my face plants into the ground. I'm a weak child, my brother was a prodigy at eight years, at nine, I can't even compare. And yet, I survived this. The question, _"Am I really going to make it?" _goes through my mind, as I slowly drift away into darkness, all alone

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"No please.. NOO!"

_I hear the sound of flesh tearing, and I sit back, unable to anything. I scream escapes my lips, but they can't hear. I'm just a phantom, reliving their agony. _

"_OKASAN!"_

I wake up sweating. Another nightmare, nothing new. The bright light hits my eyes, pissing me the fuck off. My head hurts, but I deal with it. I've been here for 4 years now, Konoha, they found me and took me in, let me live on my own, enroll as a ninja student. I have a life here now.

Getting up, I stop and look into the mirror. My silver hair sticks straight, and my vivid violet eyes shine brightly. My bang partly covers the left eye, I've given up on moving it, it likes covering that eye, who am I to stop it?

The markings of my clan, move from my right eye, over my shoulder and to my stomach, the most eye catching part of my entire being, a black shadow of a wolf, swirls of black starting at my eye,and the wolfs head finally ending on the right side of my belly button. I smirk. I am the last of my clan, murdered because of our customs.

Taking the souls of powerful animals, even demonic creatures, and giving them to our children is apparently bad. I was the last to receive this gift, and the last surviving with the gift. My Kekkei Genkai, allows me to use the spirit to my benefit. Wolf spirits hold talent in stealth, and shadow. I can use shadows to my benefit, to conceal myself, and attack. I can't wait to use this to show my worth, since I've been branded as a freak and outsider to these people, at least I can be a fabulous kunoichi for them. I'll show them, at the upcoming chuunin exams. They'll see.


	2. Chapter 1:Friends and Enemies

**Here's the first real chapter, I'm trying to get these out daily, so watch for them! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I do own Tsukkio, so she's mine. :)**

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**Chapter 1:Friends and Enemies

I giggle to myself and I jump up to a window, and open it stealthily. Inside I see a sleeping boy, drooling, his mouth open wide. I slowly sneak in and hear a slight whine, looking at the source, I put my finger to my lips and make a "shhh" noise. I smile. He's going to hate me.

"Kiba-kun! It's time for training!" I may be a quiet girl, but I have quite the voice. He falls out of bed surprised and hits the floor. Akamaru, also startled, ran for cover in his master's shirt.

"Baka! What are you doing waking me up so early?" He replies. I laugh at my best and only friend. Kiba and I had a connection, a sibling type connection. Him and his family are the only ones who accept me, instead of reject all I am, and I was grateful for that.

"I found out that the Chuunin exams are in a week! So we're going to train!" I exclaimed loudly, he grabbed his head, and sighed. He knew he wouldn't get out of this.

"But Kurenai-sensei said that we didn't have to do anything today! You're so pushy, Tsukkio..**(A/N Her name means "Moon Child", due to the fact that she has silver hair and has an affiliation with wolves)**" He was irritated I could tell.

"Too bad, I'm not Kurenai-sensei, and I say train." I won, he knew this. I could sense his defeat.

"Get ready" and with that, I hopped out his window and landed gracefully on the ground.

I observe myself while waiting impatiently for Kiba, who was putting on a shirt while brushing his teeth. My fishnet gloves held by black rings go up to my elbows, my headband tied right above it, and my black tank-top stops at my bellybutton, revealing the wolf's head. I look at my katanas, that are tied to my side, these are twin swords that I had made special, with wolf based designs all over them, they're my favorite possessions. My red skirt with black wolf designs goes to my knees but has slits on each side revealing well tones quads under more fishnets. I start to fix them impatiently, they often get snagged up because i cut them at the ankles. I don't wear shoes, I hate shoes, they limit my senses.

I hear panting and footsteps, that are definitely Kiba's and I take off running. I've waited long enough. I get a start and then hop onto a roof, I sigh and close my eyes. I train relying solely on my senses, and I need to hone every single one perfectly, and seeing as my sight is keen enough, I don't need them for something as trivial as traveling through my village. I hear someone jump onto the same roof as me, catching the vibrations of his step with my bare feet. I smirk and pick up my speed. This is where the game gets fun. I need to find out where I am exactly. **Inhale, take in your surroundings.** I smell flowers, we're over the flower shop, so I need to turn right, I sense the end of the building and hop to the one on it's right, and continue running. I feel the wind on my face, such a pleasure for me, I love to run. **Breath deeply, what's in the air?** I taste ramen, so we're passing the ramen stand. Perfect, I jump off the building and tap into my hearing more. **Listen for voices, don't knock anyone down.** I hear some people and jump straight over them, hearing their gasps. I snicker, they hate me. I scare them.

"Sorry, excuse me, MOVE!" Kiba is flustered, but he's keeping up well, poor boy, I torture him so.

I keep running high speed, I don't sense anyone near but Kiba, so I pick up the pace, we're almost there.

"Seriously? You want to go faster?" Such a temper he has sometimes, but I love him. He's the brother I lost so long ago.

I feel the concrete leave and become grass, but it's not as soft as I need it to be. I sense we're in a wooded area now, and smell sweet lavender to my left. That's where I need to go. I make a quick left and hear Kiba skid to the side trying to keep up. The grass becomes very soft, and the smell of lavender and fresh water hits my nose. We're here. I open my eyes and behold the sight in front of me. My favorite clearing in Konoha, and my practice grounds. There's a large area of grass, protected by many trees, that provide shadow essential to my skills. There's a large peach tree to the north, that has delicious fruit, and a fresh water stream next to it. The grass is soft, and there's a bush of lavender growing to the side between trees. It's a beautiful area. It also beholds to all my senses, sight because of it's beauty and colors, touch because of the soft grass, smell for the lavender, taste for the fruit. It's a perfect spot, that I absolutely adore.

"Following you was hard enough training for days!" Kiba's comment pulls me out of my thought and wonder.

"Well, than maybe you need to train more, that run was nothing." I snicker, I'm a tough person, and my speed is insanity. I know that I'm hard to keep up with, but it's just so fun messing with him. He's such an asshole about everything. I hear him fall to the floor.

"Akamaru and I are going to end up dying by your hand one day, Tsukkio.." He trails off taking in his surroundings.

"Get up Kiba, I came here hoping you'd have some hand-to-hand practice with me. You need work, and I need to hone my senses. Sounds fair right?" I smile sweetly after my statement, but he knows I mean business.

He gets up, and into a fighting stance. Akamaru moves to the side, he's not much help in taijustu

"Just some taijutsu with weapons, alright?" He nods, and I take my headband and wrap it around my eyes, this makes it more fun, and helps me hone my skills better. I need to be able to sense everything. I get into stance as well.

"This time, I'll beat you." He's never beaten me, I doubt he will now.

Kiba lunges forward, and I feel the direction he's coming in, and listen to his steps. He's going fairly quick, so I jump backwards. **Listen.** I hear him turn towards me, and a clink of metal. He's pulled a kunai out. I starts to move, and a hear his speed, he's faster now.

_'I need to disarm him' _I think, moving to the side, dodging his attack. He has power, but is sloppy compared to me. This time I lunge towards him hearing his position, I hear his breath sharpen. He's standing his ground. Big mistake. He steps forward with his right foot, meaning he has the kunai in his right hand. I move towards his right and hear his breath, he's going to block my attack and strike. Perfect. He make his move and I make mine, I move lower and knock his feet from under him. He fell for my trick, I wasn't going for his hand. I hear him land on the ground, and I quickly roll, and grab his weapon, tossing it to the side. He gets up, and lunges into the air. He's trying to block my senses by keeping airborne. Big mistake. I stop moving completely, feeling the air of his jump on my face. I concentrate on my hearing now, hes kicked a tree and is most likely rebounded to my direction. **Smell for him.** I inhale, and find his scent only feet away, He makes his move, but I'm faster. I grab his arm, and pull him around so his back is on my torso. I then get his other arm and unsheathe one katana. I put it to his neck, sealing my victory.

"I win.."

"Yes.." Kiba sounded disappointed. I was proud of him, he did well. He thought his actions out, and almost struck me. I'm not the best kunoichi, but for a genin, I've been praised at being remarkably skilled. I was taught before even becoming a ninja, and have the special teaching now only known by me.

"You rock Kiba, I promise." I sat down next to him, and removed the headband from my eyes, he was just petting Akamaru sadly. I sighed. I made a discrete hand seal and stole the shadow of a tree, turning it into real matter. I manipulated it into a hand sort of thing and moved it towards the peach tree, taking a whole branch. I moved it back towards us and dropped it in front of me. I grabbed a peach and handed it to him, smiling. I was a rival, yes, but I was also a best friend. He knew that.

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**Later that day:**

I had concluded my training with Kiba early. He was tired, and I was hungry for something other than peaches. I walked the streets, looking around for something to eat, there wasn't much I liked. I'm pretty picky, and like to cook my own things. The street I was on was pretty clear, many people were indoors, preparing for dinner or something of that sort. They all had lives, unlike me. Other than training there was little for me to do. I stopped suddenly, and felt that there was something off somewhere, I knew this for a fact. I listened carefully and heard some distressed voices. Without a thought I jumped onto the nearest building and headed for the source. The voices got louder. I recognized two as Naruto Uzamaki, that dunce, and Sakura Haruno. I was unsure of the other two, I've never heard them before. I got into view and saw the scene. There was a large boy with a contraption on his back, holding up who I recognized as a ninja academy preschooler**, **I didn't know his name, nor did I care. Next to the strange boy was a blond girl with what looked to be a fan on her back. These people were not from around here, but figured they were participants in the Chuunin Exams. Still, they had no right to be pick on our children and cause commotion.

"Fine, but I have nothing to do with this." I heard the blond say. I observed her head band as she turned slightly. I crouched lower, hoping not to be seen. It was daylight, I couldn't manipulate the shadows to hide me.

_'Sand Ninja, from Sunagakure..'_ I moved the observation to the back of my mind. The confrontation is what I was worried about, until I saw an object move high speed toward the odd man. The man dropped the child towards the ground, and I instinctively jumped up, and summoned my shadow to catch him. He landed safely and I placed him on the ground. I was now seen, and jumped towards the scene.

_'So much for stealth'_ I thought.

"Hey what are you doing here?" Ugh, that voice, Naruto shrilly called to me, and I shrugged.

"I heard commotion, I wanted to just observe, but I don't want to see a child hit the ground if I can help it. I don't like people getting injured." I know I sounded smug, but I'm in the presence of preschoolers, two genin I'm not fond of, and tough looking strangers. It just seemed right.

"Why don't you come down here?" I tuned back into what was going on, and saw Sasuke Uchiha, probably the only other new genin who I've been itching to fight, perched in a tree.

_'That explains a lot.' _I remembered the rock and put two and two together. Aren't I smart?

The odd man wore black and I finally saw his face, which had paint on it. He removed the odd thing from his back, and smiled smugly.

"Are you really going to use Crow for this?" The blond girl exclaimed, looking worried now. I bent my knees, despite my possible rivalry with Uchiha, I was ready to have his back.

"Enough." An eerie voice comes from near Sasuke, and I turn my attention to where it came from. I see an upside down boy. I tilt my head to the side like a canine, a ghastly trait I've inherited from the wolf spirit I have. He's attractive, but slightly intimidating. He has crimson red hair, and pale skin. His eyes are lined black, but I observe it's not makeup.

_'That's one sleep deprived child..' _I shake the thought and move to continue my observation, but he's gone. I look towards the other sand ninja, and he's standing with them. He has the kanji symbol Ai(love), on the left side of his forehead. He also has beautiful sea-foam green eyes. My eyes soften, he's very attractive.

"H-Hey, Ga-Gaara, sorry! I was just having a bit of fun!" The stuttering sound of the boy I now know as Kankuro meets my ears, and I cease my fawning over this strange boy. I space out again, missing the rest of the conversation, for I am lost in my thoughts wondering what his story is. My thoughts break again when I hear footsteps as they walk away, and as Uchiha jumps from his perch.

"Wait!" Sasuke calls, "What's your name?" He points at the red head.

"M-Me?" The girl known as Temari asks shyly.

"No.." Sasuke says, "You with the gourd on your back" The other two sand ninja turn towards their red headed partner.

"My name is... Subaku No Gaara. And you? I am curious about you as well.." Gaara states.

"I am Uchiha Sasuke." He simply states.

"and you?" Gaara points at me, and I tense up.

"My name is Bakekata Tsukkio."**(A/N: Bakekata means "Spirit Person." Bake is the suffix for spirit, as Kata is the formal word for Person, this is derived from her clan's usage of spirits)**

Gaara nods, acknowledging that he heard me. I look into his eyes, trying to read his expression, his personality, anything. I study his posture, and his face; in a poor attempt to try and find something out about him. He appears emotionless, but that's not it. My heart falls into my stomach when his eyes meet mine. I straighten my expression to be blank, and turn on my heels gracefully, and hop onto a roof bounding away at the speed of light.

_'What is it about that boy the intrigues me so..? Subaku No Gaara, who are you.. and what are you hiding behind that mask?_

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**_A/N:_**

**_Alright, That's it. I was hoping to make it a bit longer, but I hope this suffices, it just seemed right to end it here. Thanks for reading. I'm really siked about this fic!_**

_**Also to CeriseGothicLime, and xOxPiggyBridexOx, I deeply appreciate the reviews, This is my first ever fanfic(I've written some plain fiction before) and I really appreciate it.**_

_**Alright, until the next chapter! Please Review!**_

_**-KuroDancer  
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	3. Chapter 2: Everything Begins

**I got this out faster than I thought. I was quite bored and just started writing. ^-^**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anyone from it, but I do own Tsukkio. She's mine. :)**

Chapter 2: Everything begins.

I am awakened by yet another nightmare, and groan. I glance at the clock, 4:30, much too early for me to be awake. The sun isn't even out at this time. I sigh, this nightmare business is really getting old. I look around at my messy room, black sheets in a heap at the end of my bed, and my aquamarine and black comforter on the floor. There was garbage everywhere, and bottles of painkillers littered the floor. I sigh and get up, upset that I'm awake at this time of day, especially on a day where good nights sleep is needed.

_'I should get a dream catcher.. ha' _The thought is humorous to me. Bad dreams aren't caused by evil spirits, bad dreams are caused by the subconscious fear of something, or a bad memory. In my case it was a memory. Watching them get slaughtered before my eyes, but not being able to do anything. I flinch suddenly, and pull those thoughts out of my mind.

_'Just forget and cool yourself off'_ I move to the kitchen, taking in the gruesome sight of dirty dishes in a pile, and old food on the counter. I've been really busy with training this past week, but I hadn't realized it was this bad. I ignore it and move to the bathroom, which isn't as bad as the other rooms, other than the spiderweb in the corner, but being on a team with Shino makes that seem like nothing. I walk over to the shower and turn it on, waiting for the water to heat up all the way. I pull off my sports bra and sweat pants, I stop to admire the marking of a wolf that goes down half my body. I am suddenly reminded of my brother. He had a fox tattoo going down from his neck to the top of his right hand, in bright white. Him and I were yin and yang, the fox representing light, and the wolf representing darkness. He was my hero.

"Sora.." His name is foreign to my lips, I try to forget, but I can't. I just do the best I can to push it back. I could have helped him, if i weren't such a naive child, being a fantastic kunoichi is all i can do for him now. I feel a tear roll down my check, and sigh. I need to stop doing this.

I step into the shower, and let the hot water calm my nerves. I wash and stand there for about ten minutes until hopping out and going into my room to rummage for clothes. I find all my fishnets, and slip them on as usual. I pull on a purple tank-top, and a black skirt similar to all my others, but it has purple trim, and a purple crescent moon in the right corner. I pull my very long silver hair back into a high bun and add 4 chopsticks. I tie my headband to my right arm, and adjust it over my fishnets. I look at my reflection in the mirror, and am content. I turn and bound out the door and onto the streets of Konoha.

The sun isn't up yet, so I ponder on where to go. Finally I decide to go to my clearing and start to run quickly and silently towards the destination. I don't cover my eyes, everything is quiet and it wouldn't be a challenge what-so-ever. I make it to the wooded area and slow to a walk, heading towards the clearing, until I sense someone. I stop, and sniff the air, their smell is unfamiliar to me, as is their chakra. I quickly crouch and move towards the shadows, letting them engulf my body, making me nearly invisible in the darkness. I crouch low, and move towards my clearing, using the shadows of the trees to keep cover. I move to a tree in the clearing, and look at the person sitting in the moonlight.

"Subaku No Gaara.." His name falls from my lips, without me thinking and I quickly put my hand over my mouth. I mentally smack myself.

"Show yourself.." His voice is calm, and he speaks lazily, but it still has an eerie tinge to it. I move forward leaving my shadows at the tree, and do a somersault over to near his position, just because I could.

"What are you doing here..?" He hasn't even looked my way, he just continues to stare forward. He looks devilishly handsome in the moon light, and I find myself staring.

"Er.. well... I woke up, and decided to come here. It's my favorite spot in the village... But then I sensed you... and got curious and wanted to see who you were.." I never stutter, but here I am almost unable to find my words. This is annoying, what's with this boy?

"Why are you awake..?" He finally looks my way, he looks calm, but there's still no expression on in his eyes. He's just blank.

"Why would I need to tell you..?" His eyes sharpen at my comment, and then turns his head away from me. I sigh, if I was to even try to get to know this boy, I might as well be nice.

"I had a nightmare." I state simply. I move to sit cross legged, and fall backwards onto the soft grass. I breathe in the scent of the clearing, with now also includes the scent of Gaara, who seems to be ignoring me. He smells oddly of sand, blood, and jasmine, which I know can be a desert flower. I inhale again, he smells nice to me.

"You're still here" His voice breaks my sniff session, and I glance towards him, his back still to me.

"Nope, this is just a illusion, I'm not really here, you just think I'm here." Sarcasm drips from my tone, this is something I naturally do when someone states something obvious.I close my eyes, and relax again.

Suddenly, I feel a force push me about five feet to the side, it's gritty. **Sand..** I sit up, and my eyes narrow.

"What was that for?" I know I shouldn't get confrontation with anyone I don't know, but he just shoved me with sand!

"Hn." He finally turned all the way around and looked me straight in the eyes. His expression is still lazy.

"You said you were and illusion, I was testing that." Is this guy serious?

"I was being sarcastic, wasn't it obvious?" My voice is raised, but I don't care.

"No one has ever been sarcastic with me, and you're being rude.." Venom begins to drip through his tone, and I tense. Not out of fear for him, but out of fear that I may have upset him.

"Sorry.." I'm trying my best not to be short fused, I want to find out his story.

"Are you not afraid?" He's looking away again.

"Afraid? Of what?" I'm really confused. Why does he confuse me so damn much?

"Me"

"Why would I be afraid of you?" My statement is innocent, but he tenses up, and his fists grab grass. He turns directly at me, face distorted with different emotions. Confusion, anger.. Sadness?

"Ga-" I start to say his name, but sand engulfs him, and he disappears. I look up, seeing that the sun has just barely begun to come up, I sit down and sigh.

_'What an odd morning"_

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**Gaara's POV:**

_'She's not afraid of me..? Hn, I doubt it, she tensed up at my tone. But, what if she isn't afraid..? She's very intriguing, and powerful.. __I may not want to taste her blood after all...'_

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_**Tsukkio's POV:**

I open my eyes, and look to the sky, the sun is up. It seems to be around 11:30. I yawn, happy about my nap. I look around the clearing and slowly the events of early this morning come back to me. I had spoken with him, he was blunt, and cold, but his face before he left portrays otherwise.

_'Great this peaks my curiosity even more!' _I groan and stand up. I need to meet my team at the academy, the Chuunin Exams start today, and I can't be late. I touch my fingers to my toes and crack my back.

"Alright.. Here I come."

I speed off, faster than I have in quite awhile. I jump into the trees, and when I reach the town, I jump onto a building.

"Look at that odd girl, so reckless, I can't wait for the day she hurts someone and gets kicked out!"

The voice is from a snotty sounding woman, and I sigh. First of all, I'm not reckless, I'm more graceful than she'd ever hope to be, second of all, if I ever do hurt someone; It'll be her. I shrug my unnecessary anger off, and bound forward. I see the academy and get excited, something I don't usually do. I pick up my speed even more, so I'm barely visible and then jump high of the roof and do three flips before landing on the ground with one foot. I felt cocky, but that's just because of my excitement.

"First you're late and then you make a flashy appearance! You're something else, baka!" Kiba sure knows how to greet a woman, alright.

"You're just jealous because you can't make up for tardiness with a sexy aerial flip." I give him a pitied look, and he pouts looking angry.

"G-G-Guys... We need to go register." I hear the soft voice of Hinata-chan, and turn around. I smile at her and then look to Shino nodding, and just walk to the door. We move up to the third floor, hearing people whisper about a gen-jutsu that tricked a lot of people.

"See Tsukkio? We already missed action!" Kiba acts like an energetic mutt sometimes. Even Akamaru is more sane than him is at times. We move to a room full of genin, and register and begin to wait. All of these people are in groups of three, except for my group. My arrival in Konoha kind of messed up the system, but whatever, being odd is cool sometimes. My three companions wander off towards a man giving bios on other shinobi, I sigh, not wanting to take part and move to a corner and slide against a wall. Once I got comfortable, I began to observe people. Some weaklings, some creeps, and many odd looking shinobi were in the room. I noticed Gaara and stared at him, and then he made eye contact with me. I blinked, and smiled naturally. he looked shocked and looked away. I saw Kankuro and Temari gaze at me and I smiled at them too, if they were companions with Gaara I could get to know them too. My curiosity for this boy is going insane. Kankuro looked away, but Temari smiled back. I looked down and sighed.

_'This is boring'_ I spoke too soon, as we were then pushed into a room with desks and a paper at every desk. There were name-tags on each desk indicating where each genin was to go. I found my seat and was shocked as Gaara took a seat next to me. I quickly looked down, and took a breath. I looked up at the people in front, and glanced at how many people, specifically chuunin were seated around the desks, with notepads out.

"Oh god, we're going to take a written test..." I put my head down on the desk and smacked it a few times until it started to hurt. I moved my head up, and saw that Gaara was watching me.

"Er.. sorry?" He nodded and turned forward again. I'm such a baka! Soon, a man stepped forward, he had many scars, and spoke. he gave us instruction on what we were to do, about the test, and that were weren't to cheat. We were soon handed the test and I was dumbfounded at the questions. No genin could answer these, until I saw four four people writing answers hastily in front of me, and sensed four more behind me. They were placed evenly around the room.

_'They WANT us to cheat!' _I smirked, and made hand signs under the desk. I sent my shadow towards one of them, without converting it into matter, and it moved into their eyes sockets and blended into their eyes. He didn't even notice. I made another hand sign, and then closed my eyes. I saw from his vision and the answers were revealed to me. I began to write them down, with ease and was finished in mere minutes.

I noticed Gaara also had his eyes closed, well, an eye, and came to the conclusion that he was doing something similar. I shrugged and put my head down.

"Everyone put their pencils down!" My eyes shot open, and I shot up. Damn, this is the second time I've randomly fallen asleep today. I yawned, and then scratched my head. I caught Gaara staring oddly at me, and smirked.

The man in front explained the last question, and I kind of blocked him out. I wasn't going to leave, and I didn't care who did. I know my team won't back down either. I hear Uzamaki's shrill tone break into the room, and I sigh, and cover my ears with my arms with my head down on the desk.

I stayed like that for a bit, until I heard that we all passed, and I sighed. So this test was for nothing. What a waste. I was about to put my head down again until I heard someone bust through a window and start screaming about the second part of the exam. She startled the fuck out of me, and my ear drums nearly exploded. Curse this sensitive hearing. I grabbed my ears and cringed instinctively, and whined slightly, earning some add stares, and making the woman in front stop.

"Sorry.. don't worry about me. I'm just.. partly deaf now." I stated, I hated when people looked at me. I wiped my hand across my face and shook slightly, like a dog who's trying to get over something. I realized I did this, and sighed. I can't help my canine tendencies.

"Check out the freak, she acts like an animal.." I heard someone whisper this and looked down. Yup, that's me, that freak.

They started laughing until I heard them gasp and stop. Sand was creeping up their legs, and they were freaking out. Gaara was staring forward, but I saw that he had a hand sign made. The sand stoped when they yelled sorry, causing them to get stares as well.

"Thank you?" I said to Gaara.

"Hn" was the reply I got back. I smirked, he was being nice? I couldn't tell. I couldn't ponder it much longer, because we were being herded outside in front of a huge fence, and handed waivers. This was a paper indicating that Konoha wasn't responsible for any deaths that may occur in here. I moved towards my team and looked towards the large fenced area protecting a forest.

_'Well.. This is going to be fun, isn't it?' _I smile, and sign the contract.


	4. Chapter 3:Smooth sailing

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anyone from it. But I do own Tsukkio. :)**

**Chapter 3: Smooth sailing.**

We were instructed on what to do, and given our scroll. I yawned, today was just not my day to be awake. He were handed the heaven scroll and put at a gate.

"Akamaru! Are you ready?" Kiba was excited, and the bark the protruded Akamaru indicated that he was also pretty excited. I looked over to Hinata who was looking into the fence, fists clenched. She was a marvelous kunoichi, but she didn't trust in her abilities. Poor child... I always just want to give her a hug.

"Tsuki-chan..?" She was now looking at me, confused that I was staring.

"Yea, Hina-chan?" We've gotten relatively close, so have nicknames for each other, we got along pretty well.

"You've been staring at me.. Is something wrong?" Her question caught me kind of off guard, so I just grinned and rubbed the back of my head, my sharper than normal canines probably showing. I didn't smile much because of this.

"Sorry, I was spacing out.." **Lies.** I hate the fact the I end up lying to people because I'm a just an odd person.

"Guys stop chatting! They're going to open the gates soon!" Kiba always just insists on being rude. I hear Shino sigh, he's not much of a talker, and we're all okay with that. He's a great teammate.

Suddenly, the gates open, and we just look at each other, and take off.

"Guys I'm going ahead to scout for shinobi with an earth scroll, it's shadowy here, I bet I can get one with no confrontation" They all nodded except for Kiba who looked deep in thought.

"Kiba, what do you think?" I asked trying to read his expression.

"What do we do?" I sigh at his question, he wants action.

"Find cover, and blend in, if you see shinobi with an earth scroll, ambush them. Actually, If you see any group that looks like you can beat, take them down, the less competition the better." He smiles at my statement, he loves the idea of a good ambush. He nods at me and jumps into the trees with Shino and Hinata.

"Shino, if you need me send a bug!" and with that statement, I jumped off into the trees.

About five minutes in, I sense people and smile. I get up against the tree I'm in and summon shadows to cover my body. I'm nearly invisible in this shady area, perfect for a stealth attack, or better yet just to steal a scroll. I spot some hidden mist genin, and smirk. They were in a very shady spot and I could crawl to them and use a shadow to grab their scroll. It was holstered on one of them, and was definitely an earth scroll. I get on my stomach and start to slowly crawl into their direction until another presence causes me to stop. I inhaled and recognized the scent as Gaara's, I saw sand and knew that he was trying to get their scroll.

_'I may be trying to make him my friend, but there's no way he's getting this scroll'_

The sand moved towards one of them and I hop up and decide the normal shadow manipulation wasn't going to cut it. I close my eyes quickly and re-open them feeling empowered, my wolf tattoo is glowing, my eyes tingle as they change from violet to a bright gold, and I take every shadow in the area and knock it quickly against the sand; almost like a wave of darkness. There's almost always a shadow somewhere, and some shinobi can manipulate it to stop people, but I can take a mass amount of it, and turn it into matter. I can do it without activating my Kekkei- Genkai, but it's not as useful in battle. I have the spirit of the wolf directly tapped into my physical being, all of it's properties and I don't even have to make a hand sign. The shadows just listen.

"He was my target first. No stealing." Gaara seemed shocked at my statement, but even more shocked were his teammates. Temari and Kankuro looked as if I had signed my death certificate. Funny thing is, in this coomotion the mist genin started to move away. Gaara grabbed two with his sand and I bounded the other with shadows.

"Stay! I'll come back to you in a minute!" They looked shocked, they were being fought over.

"What makes you think I'll leave them without a fight? I'll be glad to take four victims right now.." His voice was very eerie, what happened to him being kind to me before? Still, these men were mine to take down, that scroll was mine. I'm too proud to give them up. I found them first. Plus, my Kekkei-Genkai was still activated, it was rearing for a fight. Even if it was with the boy I'm so interested in.

"Fine then, give me all you've got." I too my katanas out, and got into a stance. I didn't move, I'd let him take the first shot. Suddenly, sand came at me and I lifted my arm telling the shadows to shield me.

I then jumped to the side and swiped mt katanas into the air sending a sharp X of shadows at him. His sand blocked it and I saw my opportunity, I sent shadows over his sand and trapped him in his own defense, he wouldn't stay like that for long, so I made my choice. I jumped over to the mist genin, and took their Earth Scroll, and ran like the wind. No one would ever catch me at this speed.

As soon as I thought I was a good distance away I sat in a tree and covered myself in shadows. I breathed and closed my eyes, the tattoo on my body cooled down and my appearance returned to normal. I sighed, that definitely was not the way to befriend Gaara. But my competitive side got the best of me. Suddenly I heard a scream coming from the direction I just arrived from.

_'I really should get this scroll back to my team-mates.. _' Another scream.

_'Aw hell...' _I turned around and started my way back to where I left Gaara with the Mist genin. I perched in a tree where I could see the sight without revealing my presence. The shadows were still called to my body, so I just observed. Gaara was standing in a cave of sand that was covered in needles, moving his hands. Sand engulfed the man who I assumed was his attacker. Next thing I knew his fist clenched and the man imploded from inside the sand, and it rained blood.

**_Blood is everywhere, the smell of burning flesh and crimson liquid hits my nose. I'm dizzy, I want to throw up._ "**_**Emotions make us weak, a tiger doesn't feel, it survives."**  
_My head starts to spin. I see vividly in my mind the memories of the massacre. My brother's body. I see the blood on the ground, and it get's worse. My head hurts._  
**My brother, sister, father, dead. Mutilated bodies litter the floor of our home, and our village.**_

This is too much_, _I look back on the blood on the ground. The vivid images get worse, I feel my head get light. I move on the branch but stumble, I can't feel my senses. I fall.

**Survive. **I try to summon shadows to catch me, but all I see is my mother's mutilated body. I scream. I expect to hit the ground, but I am encased in something soft and gritty. The last thing I see is a pair of sea-foam eyes. Everything goes dark.

* * *

My eyes open, I look around. My body seems to be okay, other than my splitting headache. I notice this isn't where I fell, I'm behind a bush, or very tall leaves. Well covered. I soon remember what had occurred and I encase my head in my hands.

_'I really need a therapist' _

Suddenly, a thought occurs to me. I look inside my side pouch and see that both the heaven and earth scrolls are still there.

_'He saved me, and didn't rob me, and yet he attacked me earlier, and made a man explode..' _I pushed the last part of the thought out of my mind, and pondered still on what his problem was. I closed my eyes to think, but I heard a buzz and came face to face with six bugs. They were just flying in front of me, and a few landed on me calmly. These were Shino's bugs.

_'Shit, I need to get back to them.' _

I get up and my splitting headache gets worse, I crouch low and grasp my head. I luckily came prepared and grab a bottle of major painkillers and shove about four into my mouth and dry swallow. I gave up on using the right dosage awhile ago. I breathe in and hope it goes away fast, and then take off into the woods. The bugs lead me, and they're fast, which is good. The quicker I get to them the better.

After a good while of running I come onto the scene of my team fighting of three other genin, of what village I wasn't sure, I wasn't being very observant right now. My team wasn't fending well. They seemed to have been keeping this up for awhile, but they looked worn down. They were obviously caught off guard. I still hadn't been seen yet by the enemy but Hinata had spotted me because of her Byuakugan_, _I put a finger to my lips and then pointed to my neck. She needed to provide a distraction. She jabbed the man in his neck's pressure point and he screamed, spitting out blood. This made the other two turn to look and I then shot out from behind them and pulled out my katanas and stabbed them both in the lower back, not killing them, but paralyzing them. Hinata then hit the other man's pressure point and his stomach. He coughed up blood and fell to the ground.

"Took you long enough! I hope you were luckier than we were, we got worn out taking down three teams and only got three heaven scrolls. No earth scrolls.." Kiba looked worn out. I knew just how to cheer him up. I swiftly went into my pouch and threw the earth scroll right in his face. He caught it after it fell from his face and looked at it for a moment until smiling.

"Yata! We did it! Let's go to the tower, come on Akamaru, guys!" He didn't look so worn out anymore. I laughed slightly at him, and then looked at Shino and Hinata. No one was injured, just very tired.

"Yea, let's get the hell outta here." We jumped up and I pulled my shadow to cover us all. We couldn't really take more fighting. I took as until the next morning to reach the tower, and we were all relieved to see it. We hadn't taken a break, for the fear of losing a scroll. When we entered the door I noticed a feeling of bliss fall over their faces. I however, wasn't so happy. Earlier, the relapse of the massacre had actually caused me to faint. I felt sick about it, just by seeing all of that blood. I've seen blood before, it never affected me like that. I sat down against a wall and put my head back.

_'What's wrong with me?'_ With that question, I slowly drifted into a dreamless sleep.


	5. Chapter 4:Here I am, now prepare to die

**A/N: When it comes to situations that occurred in great detail in the anime or manga, I choose not to explain it in detail in my writing. It's just because it becomes a pain and I know that most all of you have read or seen these situations before. However, if my writing starts to feel rushed, and you feel that I'm skipping key parts and details, please let me know. Also in logic, there's just an extra guy for Tsukkio to fight, He has no team mates I guess. ^-^ Sorry if this bothers anyone. ALSO(again), My sleep schedule is dead, and it's heard to proof read my own work at 3:00 am, so if you see any errors, please feel free to let me know.  
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**I aim to please. :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of it's characters. I do own Tsukkio, she's mine. No touchy. :)**

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**Chapter 4: Here I am, now prepare to die.**

I opened my eyes when I heard more and more people moving in, making noise. Curse my sensitive ears. I looked around and began observing, my favorite habit. Much better than interacting with them all. Only people I interacted with is my team, Kiba being my best friend, Hinata being sweet and quite the partner, and Shino, whom I exchange nods and glances with. Yup, quite the social life I have. I saw Kiba curled up with Akamaru, he took my lead and rested. I saw Hinata near Naruto pushing her fingers together shyly, I very much disliked Naruto, he was a dunce, but Hinata is so cute when she's near him. I avert my eyes and see Shino leaning against a wall, judging by his breathing patters, he is napping. I continue to look around and spot Temari and Kankuro, but no Gaara... Curiosity gets the best of me, and I decide to look for him.

_'Didn't he try and kill me?' _I stop and ponder the thought.

_'But he also SAVED me..'_ I liked that thought better and went in search. I lifted my nose and inhaled, there were a lot of scents here. I inhaled again, but this time applying a small amount of chakra to my nose, a trick I borrowed from Kiba. I only had to use a minuscule amount because my sense of smell was already very keen. Suddenly I smell sand, blood(more than before), and jasmine. I probably looked ridiculous, because I stopped every 20 steps and sniffed around again, I bet I looked just like a canine. I was getting away from all the others and found myself in a more secluded area, the smell was getting stronger. I closed my eyes to help my sense of smell become stronger. I kept walking forward, and then sensed a wall and turned right, and continued walking forward for awhile. The smell was suddenly very strong and I realized that I had stopped paying attention to everything, and I was only about 3 inches away from Gaara's chest, since I was crouching down, instinctivly. I looked up and grinned shyly, a blush creeping on my cheeks. Suddenly I felt hands grab my face and pull my cheeks, forcing my teeth to continue being shown.

"Uh... " I could feel my blush getting strong, which is odd, I don't blush. I'm no princess looking for a suitor.

"You have sharp teeth.." What the fuck?

"Yes, I do. Can You let go?" He lets go by pushing back a little, and since my fucking daisy girl side had been activated, I fell.

"What the hell man?" Here I go being confrontational again.

"You keep picking fights with me, and then seeking me out.." He's not facing me, what does he have against eye contact?

"Well you interest me! But you're also aggravating as hell!" He turns and glares at me. He steps forward just a bit and furrows what would be his eyebrows.

"No one has ever spoken to me that way you speak to me.." Well that's great, I have to be the one to teach him manners.

"Well I wouldn't have to if you didn't go around grabbing people's faces, and then pushing them, or when you knocked me five feet back with sand, RANDOMLY!" There goes my temper I should really stop. Suddenly, I was pushed up against a wall, being held there by Gaara. His hand were clutching my arms above my head, and his body was keeping me on the wall, he was only about half and inch taller than me, but he had me of the ground.

"There you go being rude again..." I mumble almost inaudibly. I wasn't scared, but I felt my body heating up, and my stomach drop. I felt nauseous, but I wasn't. I would rather be afraid than this, it was far too confusing.

"Don't test me... I can end you..." He's whispering into my ear.

"Then why haven't you? Why did you try and kill me, but then let me escape without a chase. Why did you defend me against those boys and then save my life? If you wanted to kill my I'd be dead." I hear him breathe in sharply at my comment, it was sort of creepy, but I felt my body heat up again when he exhaled on me.

"There you go testing me again..." His voice is calm, he's not mad. I can't sense any anger, any hostility, what the hell is he doing, then?

"Stop playing with me, I know you're not going to kill me. I can smell, taste, feel, and see emotion. You're completely calm. I've seen you angry, I've MADE you angry." I feel his grip on my loosen, but he still holds me to the wall.

"Let me go, Gaara-san..."

"No."

"Let me go please?"

"No."

"Let me go please, Gaara-KUN?" I put emphasis on the honorific, and his grip loosens again.

"No, why are you referring to me like a friend?" I looks confused now. I can see in his eyes, he's hard to read, but I'm good at this.

"Well, I've interacted with you more than I have half my village.. and I'm trying to get on your good side. Is it working? Will you let me go?"

"No."

"No to which question?"

"You're annoying me.."

"Than let me go."

"No..."

"Whhhhhyyyy?" I start to whine now, maybe he'll let me go if he can't stand me anymore.

"You... Interest me.." His statement makes me tilt my head.

"Why?" I'm still being childish, my arms are falling asleep, and I need more painkillers.

"Because you do."

"You're going to let me go."

"No."

"Yes you are." I'm formulating a plan. But it seems rash... It seems like it'd be a good idea, but I'm not sure. That is, until I feel his grip tighten again.

"Why. Is. That?" He's getting mad, now would be the perfect time. I move forward and kiss his cheek, he drops me to the ground and I jump back. I look at him, and he hasn't moved, he just touches his fingers to where my lips just were.

"Well as fun as this encounter has been.. I'm going to just.. Go... Over... There..." I point to down the hallway and start to run at the speed of light, confused by my emotions, I just wanted to get out. However I could have sworn I heard whisper something that sounded like "Wait.." I nodded my head no to myself, and went back to the room where everyone else was.

I found Kiba and gave him puppy eyes telling him I was cold, he gave me his jacket(He can be nice, I mean we are best friends), and drifted back to sleep. I put it on, zipped it up and threw on the hood. I wasn't really cold, but I did want to hide my face in case Gaara came here. My emotions were too much for me to deal with. I found a nice corner and slumped down onto the floor. I didn't go to sleep surprisingly, I just thought about what the hell was going on between me and Gaara. He made me blush, and loose control of my senses. I'm NOT an off balance person. So why was I so off guard around him.

_'Do I have feelings for him?' _I pushed that thought far away, I refused to think about it. I'm not going to let a man get in my way of being a top kunoichi, I need to do this for my brother.

_'Your brother is dead. You can try to pursue this, you've never loved anyone.' _I shake my head no. Sora isn't dead, he's with me. He's always with me.

_'He'd want you to be happy.' _Like Gaara would ever return feelings for me, he's a confused rude boy. Not to mention bloodthirsty. I rolled my eyes at myself, and hunched down, snuggling into Kiba's sweater. It smelled like him, which made me smile, thoughts of my brother Sora poured into my mind.

_'He's with me, I need to do this for him. I need to push these feelings back' _I grabbed my bottle of painkillers and poured about 5 into my hand. I looked at them, wondering if this was bad for me, and then shrugged. I put them into my mouth, lifted my head a bit and swallowed. After the terrible feeling of dry swallowing pills left my throat I lowered my head, and my eyes met a pair of sea-foam eyes from across the room. I felt my eyes widen, and looked down.

_'So much for pushing these feelings back'_

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* * *

_Eventually we were called into a large room, that look more like a small arena to me. The jounin and Hokage worked together to explain that there were to many of us, and that they had to do preliminary matches to divide the number in half.

_'Great, we get out of a bitch forest and now we fight each other, fun.' _

They explained to us that our names were put into a system and would randomly be selected. I sighed, this would be.. annoying.

_'I do get a chance to take some serious in depth observation, though.' _At least it has a somewhat bright side, or at least an only slightly cloudy side.

We were moved to the higher ground and awaited the first match up. The board started going and everyone seemed on edge. It eventually came to Sasuke Uchiha, and Yoroi Akado. Uchiha himself looked really off to me. Pained, scared, I couldn't tell exactly, but it peaked my interest. I watched the fight go on and was actually rooting for Uchiha, hoping that I'd get to fight him in the real match-ups. In the end, despite looking like he was in horrible pain, and was exhausted, he annihilated the sound ninja. I felt a smile come to my lips. He was then led out, I would have to find out what had happened later.

Next up was Shino, against a man named Abumi Zaku. It was an interesting fight, but not one I felt inclined to observe greatly. I knew Shino would beat him, and I knew Shino's techniques. I was right, of course. Afterward, when he walked to us, I patted his head and nodded. That was like giving a bear hug between us.

Kankuro was next, and I was very curious to see this match. The other person's name was Misumi, they weren't anything special. I was much more curious of Kankuro. I saw him release the thing on his back and my eyes widened slightly.

_'A puppeteer.. Interesting.' _I've heard that Suna was known for using puppets in combat, but I'd never seen it before. The battle wasn't much, Kankuro's technique was good, and his strategies were nicely thought out. It ended in Kankuro breaking the man via an anaconda like hold he had on his opponent. His limp body fell to the floor, and the winner was of no question. Kankuro had won.

I was getting kind of excited. I loved observing fights like this, I was itching for the next pair of names to be called, until it stopped.

_Bakekata, Tsukkio VS. Yamaza, Ryuu._

Damn...

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**That's it for this chapter, I felt like leaving it at that. Until the next chapter!**

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